UVU basketball: Utah Valley set to take on Arizona on Thursday night in Tucson

Utah Valley senior guard Ben Nakwaasah (center) drives to the basketball against Denver last week at the UCCU Center. UVU now travels to take on Arizona on Thursday night in Tucson.

After playing three-straight games at home, Utah Valley travels to the Grand Canyon State to take on Arizona and Northern Arizona this week. The Wolverines will take on Arizona on Thursday before traveling to play Northern Arizona on Saturday. Thursday's game against the Wildcats is set to tip off at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network.

Utah Valley has now won five games in a row. The Wolverines most recently defeated Denver, 98-75, to extend its home win streak to 18 games on Saturday night at the UCCU Center. Conner Toolson scored a season-high 26 points, while TJ Washington added a season-high 17 to lead UVU to its win over the Summit League foe. Jake Toolson leads UVU in scoring this season at 15.3 points per game, followed by second cousin Conner Toolson at 15.2 points a contest. Baylee Steele leads the Wolverines on the boards, pulling down 8.8 rebounds per game.

Arizona enters Thursday night's game against Utah Valley with a 6-2 record. After dropping games to Gonzaga (91-74) and Auburn (73-57) at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Hawaii, the Wildcats have won two straight, including a 76-72 win on the road at UConn. Arizona now returns to the McKale Center where the team has won 51 straight non-conference games. Arizona's last loss at home was a 61-57 setback to San Diego State in 2011. The Wildcats hold an 86-3 record at home since the start of the 2013-14 season. The three home losses rank as the fewest in the country since the 2013-14 season.

Sophomore guard Brandon Randolph leads the Wildcats in scoring at 17.3 points per game. Junior center Duke transfer Chase Jeter averages 12.6 points and leads the team on the boards at 7.5 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Brandon Williams and senior guard Justin Coleman also average double figures at 12.1 and 11.4 points per game, respectively. Arizona averages 78.6 points per game while limiting opponents to a 67.4 points per game mark.

Arizona is coached by Sean Miller, who is in his 10th year with the team. He holds a 253-76 record during his time at UA.

Utah Valley and Arizona meet on the basketball hardwood for just the second time on Thursday night. The two teams have met once before with the Wildcats taking an 87-56 win on December 9, 2014,in Tucson. The game marked Arizona's 36th straight non-conference home win. The Wildcats have since extended their non-conference home win streak to 51 games. UVU holds an all-time 2-8 record against teams from the Pac-12 Conference. UVU's lone wins over Pac-12 foes include a 75-71 win over Arizona State on December 10, 2005, as well as a 70-68 victory at Oregon State on December 1, 2010.

Conner Toolson ranks fifth on the all-time UVU steals list and made threes list. He ranks ninth on the all-time points chart and is just 60 points away from becoming the eighth 1,000-point scorer in UVU history. He passed up cousin Ryan Toolson (2003-04, 06-09) for the fifth spot and is now just two steals away from tying Jordan Swarbrick (2007-11) for the fourth spot. Toolson is now alone in fifth at UVU on the all-time 3-point field goals made chart with 152 and is just nine made threes away from tying UVU great Ronnie Price for fourth on the all-time threes list. Toolson ranks ninth on UVU's all-time scoring list with 940 points. He needs 60 points to become the eighth player in UVU history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Utah Valley is currently tied for the fourth-longest active home win streak in the nation at 18 games. The Wolverines look to extend their win streak to 18 games against Denver on Saturday night.

Thursday night's game at Arizona will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. J.B. Long and Steve Lavin will be on the call. The game will also be broadcast over the radio waves on ESPN960 AM as Jim McCulloch enters his ninth season as the radio play-by-play personality. Jason Erickson will be handling the color commentary duties on the radio. A live stream of the radio broadcast will also be available at ESPN960Sports.com.

Jason Erickson works in the communications office at the Utah Valley University athletic department. For more information on Wolverine athletics, visit GoUVU.com.